Newsmakers

Michael Kevane, associate professor of economics, was featured by The Torch for visiting St. John’s University to discuss Burkina Faso and the challenges the country faces.

An excerpt from the piece:
Kevane shared his research on the “Growing Violence in Northern Burkina Faso,” alongside his work in “Reading Fiction and Economic Preferences of Rural Youth in Burkina Faso.”

Kevane is also the co-director and major advocate for the Friends of African Village Libraries, a non-profit focused on creating village libraries, which has established 32 libraries in Burkina Faso, three in Ghana and one in Uganda.

“There are many reasons to be optimistic right now, such as the steady rise in GDP, secondary school enrollment, and life expectancy rates,” Kevane said. “But despite this optimistic economic outlook, civil conflict has broken out all throughout the country, and this is mainly dependent on the sense of government legitimacy.”

Read the full article Learn more about Professor Michael Kevane